Roy Wood Jr. Reveals Why He Really Left ‘The Daily Show’

Last October, Roy Wood Jr. made the surprise announcement that he was leaving The Daily Show after eight years.

The main reason for the surprise was that the Comedy Central series was still looking for a permanent host to replace Trevor Noah and no decision had been made at the time, meaning Wood Jr. was at least in a position to take over to take on the role.

However, the comedian, who now hosts the US remake of Have I Got News For You for CNN, told Gayle King why he decided to leave the famous late-night franchise.

Last night, Roy Wood Jr. was a guest on Gayle King’s SiriusXM show, where he opened up about fear being behind his exit from “The Daily Show” and why he brought his son along to clean out his office.

“The thing about the Daily Show is that Trevor left. Okay, what’s next for me when I leave? Maybe it’s not time yet, but what will happen next for me if I leave? Huh? What if they get a host who doesn’t want me? What if the Paramount-CBS merger – which was happening at the time – what if that wasn’t the case? I mean, Gayle, and I don’t like thinking like that and creating things like that, but we also live in an era where they spend $100 million making a movie and then they don’t release it. Anyone can get it,” he said on their SiriusXM show.

As for the timing, he said leaving before a big election played a big role in his decision.

“Well, when I go, when I go, I’m going to want to do my own thing. I know that. Now, when would be the best time to shop a show or have the opportunity to be hired for something else? It would be in an election year. Well, if you want to do that after the Daily Show, you can leave the Daily Show now and go find that. Because otherwise this window of opportunity won’t come until four years from now, big dog. So if there’s ever an opportunity to do something different, this is probably the time to do it. I don’t know if I’m right or not, but I know if I have a chance, now is the time because I don’t know what position I’m going to be in, where I wake up tomorrow on Twitter and see that I’m dunzo. And now I have to find out quickly. At least I can strategize this way,” he added.

In the end, the return of Jon Stewart brought new excitement to the long-running show and it is unlikely that Wood Jr. would have been interested in being one of the rotating hosts on the other days of the week alongside Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta and Ronny Chieng.